We, our family, our nation, were so blessed, for so long, because we, too, had our Rav Chaim

The Steipler Gaon, Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, often served as sandek, an honor that is associated with becoming wealthy. Someone pointed out that he did not discern any evidence of such wealth in the Steipler’s home, and wondered aloud what happened to that assurance.

The Steipler answered with two words.

“Mein Chaim’l.”

He was wealthy, because he had his Chaim’l.

And we, our family, our nation, were so blessed, for so long, because we too had our Rav Chaim.

The Steipler knew his gifted young son was cut out for greatness. When offers for positions were presented, the Steipler was strict about his instructions: “You sit and learn”

All of Shas

On the 15th of Teves  5688, Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky was born in the Polish town of Pinsk. He was named for both of his grandfathers, Rav Shmaryahu Yosef Karelitz and Rav Chaim Peretz Kanievsky. Within a few years, the family emigrated to Eretz Yisrael. Their home was a hut at the edge of the fields of Bnei Brak, unimpressive in appearance, but immense in relevance to the Torah world. His mother, Rebbetzin Miriam, was the sister of the Chazon Ish, and they shared a home: The Chazon Ish had no children of his own, and this boy would be raised under his careful, loving watch.

There was a niggun Rav Chaim would teach his children, the one with which his own father put him to sleep each night. The lyrics consisted of the names of the masechtos of Shas. Two-year-old Chaim would jump on the bed singing, “Berachos, Shabbos…” He would end the song in a single breath, “Tevul Yom, Yadayim, Uktzim gib mir a tzuker’l (now give me my candy)….”

The Steipler delighted in the gifted young boy, but in later years, Rav Chaim’s son would reflect on the fact that it could not have been easy — the Chazon Ish and the Steipler had a very different approach to learning than Rav Chaim. Rav Chaim forged his own path, mastering the depth and breadth of every single topic he encountered, but it was not the style of learning of the bochurim who filled the home, speaking in learning with the Chazon Ish.

It took a certain fortitude, but he flourished, learning in the local Talmud Torah of Bnei Brak and spending many hours learning privately with his father. He continued in Tiferes Tziyon yeshivah ketanah, learning under Rav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, and after learning under his father in Beis Yosef Novardok for a year, he went to learn in the Lomza Yeshivah in Petach Tikvah. In 1951 he married Batsheva Elyashiv, daughter of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. The shidduch was arranged by the Chazon Ish.

Your Job Is to Learn

The young couple, Rav Chaim and Rebbetzin Batsheva, started their married life in Petach Tikvah, but they soon moved to Bnei Brak, where Rav Chaim joined Kollel Chazon Ish.

This would become his identity, a kollel yungerman completely and totally immersed in his learning. He would daven vasikin each morning and then head off to kollel. He would return home for lunch, which the Rebbetzin had ready and waiting for him, but he would not eat until she was ready to join him. If she was busy, he would stand by the shtender, learning for a minute or two until his wife sat down across from him and they had lunch together.

He enjoyed their time together, but the food didn’t mean much to him — it was simply a means of nourishment. He always knew which brachah rishonah to make, because he saw the food in front of him, but after eating, he often asked which brachah acharonah to make, because he’d forgotten what he’d eaten.

Once a month, he received a stipend from the kollel, which he would give to Rebbetzin Batsheva. She would return the maaser to him to distribute to tzedakah, then use the remainder to cover expenses for their family.

If he ever asked her for money, it was to purchase seforim, and she did her best to try to put away a bit each month to allow him to indulge this love.

He would return to kollel in the afternoon and night, ending his day with Tikkun Chatzos. It was a life saturated with limud haTorah.

Rav Chaim invested time in learning with his children, of course, teaching them the song familiar to him from his youth, testing and reviewing their learning with them regularly. He created charts and graphs to help them with the complex sugyos in Maseches Yevamos and used visual aids when teaching them Maseches Kinnim.

Like the Steipler, he told stories, cherishing the tales of tzaddikim he’d received from his father. He would share stories from the Midrash, the children clamoring for more, feeling the drama in each story from the way he told it.

When the Kanievsky children were young, the family played a special game on Leil Shabbos. They did not use electricity on Shabbos, and they had no generator at the time, just a single kerosene lamp. Once the light went out, they all crowded into the study. One of the children would name a sefer and Rav Chaim would immediately point to its precise location among the thousands of seforim lining the walls, thrilling the young children.